EP 1 321 769 A1 discloses an appliance with a dispenser device. The dispenser device comprises a housing with a chamber. A number of test strips are held in a first position in which they are substantially airtight and sealed off against moisture. Means are provided for opening the chamber and for moving one of the plurality of test strips in a translation direction from the first position inside the chamber to at least a second position lying partially outside the chamber. The chamber is opened and the one test strip moved out in a single mechanical movement. Moreover, an analysis device is provided for analyzing a biological fluid.
WO 02/18940 A2 discloses a test device. The test device is used to examine a fluid for the concentration of an analyte that it contains. A housing has an opening and contains a stack of sensors. A transport element is mounted rotatably in the opening of the housing and has a rotation axle that engages in the opening. The stack is pressed against the transport element by means of a spring. Sealing means are also provided which permit a moisture-tight seal between the transport element and the sensors when the transport element moves into a specific rotation position. An outer surface of the transport element has a recess which is configured in such a way that an individual sensor can be taken from the stack. A rotary movement of the transport element, with a sensor held in the recess, transports the sensor to a position in which the sensor can be connected to a measurement appliance and takes up a drop of the fluid that is to be tested.
In previous measurement appliances, for example for determining the glucose content of blood, individual medical consumables designed as test strips can be pushed by hand into the measurement appliance by the person using said measurement appliance. The individual test strips and the measurement appliance are transported separately from one another. The number of test strips that the person using the measurement appliance carries on his person is assigned a code key containing batch-specific chemical information needed for correct determination of the glucose content of a human body fluid, for example blood, and this information is transmitted to the measurement appliance. This code key has to be fed into the measurement appliance prior to the measurement. To make the complicated handling of test strips, code key and measurement appliance easier for the end users, measurement appliances exist which comprise a test strip magazine that can be inserted into the appliance. Such appliances are known from the prior art documents EP 1 321 769 A1 and WO 02/18940 A2 mentioned in the introduction. In accordance with these solutions, batch-specific information can be carried with the magazine and can be read out automatically by the measurement appliance.
As regards the solutions known from the prior art, a disadvantage is that said solutions involve relatively large dimensions, which means that the measurement appliances, into which a magazine with several test strips held in it is inserted, have a relatively large volume. This, however, is highly undesirable for the end user, because measurement appliances are intended to be carried about relatively inconspicuously on one's person and are intended to be designed for instance in the manner of a pocket calculator or mobile phone, so as to make it easier for the end user to handle such measurement appliances and in particular to carry them about. A further disadvantage is that the measurement appliances have a format that is not very user-friendly and the presentation position of the test element is not the optimal position, which fact makes the handling of such appliances more difficult.